Editing Achelous (section)

=== Alcmaeon===
Achelous played a role in the story of the [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argive]] hero [[Alcmaeon (mythology)|Alcmaeon]], who had killed his mother [[Eriphyle]] because of her treachery against his father [[Amphiaraus]], and needed to be religiously purified.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA327 p. 327]; Grimal, s.v. Alcmaeon.</ref> According to Apollodorus, Alcmaeon was first purified by [[Phegeus]] the king of [[Psophis]], but nevertheless the land of Psophis became barren because of the cursed Alcmaeon's presence. As Thucydides tells the story, the oracle of Apollo told Alcmaeon that he needed to find a land to live in that did not yet exist at the time of his mother's death. After long travels, Alcmaeon finally came to the springs of the Achelous River, where he was purified by the river-god, and received Achelous's daughter Callirrhoe as his wife, and at the mouth of the river he discovered a land newly made by deposits of river silt, where he could make his home free of his curse.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.7.5 3.7.5]; [[Thucydides]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng2:2.102 2.102.2&ndash;6]. Compare with [[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/58/mode/2up 2.43&ndash;46]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.24.8 8.24.8&ndash;9].</ref> Later, according to Apollodorus, Achelous commanded Alcmaeon to dedicate the [[Necklace of Harmonia|necklace]] and robe—the cause of his mother's treachery—at [[Delphi]], which he did.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.7.7 3.7.7].</ref>

[[File:Metropolitan Rubens Achelous.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''The Banquet of Achelous'', by [[Rubens]], c. 1615]]